Switching from ActionScript 2 to ActionScript 3

digitalMedia

a.k.a. dM

Posts: 5146

Loc: SC-USA

3+ Months Ago

I've recently upgraded to Flash CS4. Wow! The new features are incredible and overwhelming. Working in the new interface has been a learning experience. I'm still not completely comfortable. There are many old habits which need to be forgotten, for sure.

To complicate things, I decided it was finally time for me to get into ActionScript 3. Ugh! I hate programming. ActionScript 3 steps up to being OOP with a level of strictness, unlike the light-in-the-rules ways of ActionScript 2.

The benefits of doing this are enormous if you're a serious Flash developer. Memory impact and management, visual asset management, event propagation, etc, not to mention the 3D transforms and inverse kinematics.

I gotta hand it to Adobe; This is the first time in a long time that a version of Flash has caused me to hit the learning curve.

Is anyone else going through this?

ATNO/TW

Super Moderator

Posts: 23458

Loc: Woodbridge VA

3+ Months Ago

I'm learning AS3 via a couple books that are taking me almost like baby steps through it. The hardest part for me initially was getting used to applying actions to the timeline rather than buttons or movieclips. Now, though, I'm learning to write custom classes and still having a difficult time grasping it. Like anything else though, with enough practice it will come to be second nature.

graphixboy

Control + Z

Posts: 1827

Loc: In the Great White North

3+ Months Ago

Its different. My biggest issue is forgetting to provide a type for everything and then it breaks and the trace isn't overly helpful...

I found the best way to learn though I've been teaching an intro to Flash class at the Miami Ad School and this quarter they've decided to switch to CS4 so now I have to teach the new on and that makes you learn something pretty quick.

Gunnar

Born

Posts: 3

Loc: Rochester MN

3+ Months Ago

Learning ActionScript 3 at this time as well.

At this time, I am studying the code and attempting to run an external *.flv file from within an *.swf file. The *.swf will be on our ColdFusion 7 development server. I have a Flash video player running video, but it doesn't use an external *.flv. We plan on storing *.flv video files on another domain (behind our firewall) and link to them, so I'll need to use cross domain permissions, which I gather is an *.xml file at the server (video storage )side. Why do it this way? Video storage space is a very BIG issue and *.flv files (a bit) smaller than *.wmv. For security reasons Flash uses relative linking, making absolute linking a just a "wee bit" complex.

I'm using Flash CS3 (with ActionScript 3) and hopefully will be going to CS4 this month. Using two books, one is Flash Professional 8 Beyond The Basics by Shane Rebenschied and the other is basically the same but on CS3. Rebenschied gives an excellent example using the NetStream class, which may be my solution. I just discovered this a few minutes ago. I left the CS3 book in my office at work, so don't have book specifics at this writing. However, the CS3 book has no mention of the NetStream Class anywhere!

Why does my development server refuse to run *.flv files? Posting on the web, rant the same thing "why do my *.flv files run locally but not on my server?" So far, there are the usual obvious (no help) basic solutions based on relative linking (thinking) LOL! I'm hoping I can find some help here.

graphixboy

Control + Z

Posts: 1827

Loc: In the Great White North

3+ Months Ago

Gunnar wrote:

Why does my development server refuse to run *.flv files? Posting on the web, rant the same thing "why do my *.flv files run locally but not on my server?"

Check your server and make sure that a mime type mapping exists for *.flv. There's a very good chance that your web server doesn't have them set correctly by default. Second thing sounds stupid but I gotta say it. Make sure your paths to the flv are correct. Seems stupid but I know to look for that and it still catches me from time to time.

RockmanTV

Proficient

Posts: 348

3+ Months Ago

I'm going through the same issues as well. I transitioned from Flash 8 to CS4. I'm not very familiar with classes or OOP programming in general, so this has been a rough learning curve for me. My biggest struggle has been with importing the necessary classes to perform what seem to be basic operations in AS2. The tutorials I find on the net tend to "forget" the mentioning of the classes that need to be imported beforehand. Although, I believe I had the same issues with struggling to learn AS2 originally. It's just getting used to something new. Good thing I'm learning C++ at the same time... the whole theory of OOP programming should transcend nicely.

Gunnar

Born

Posts: 3

Loc: Rochester MN

3+ Months Ago

graphixboy wrote:

Gunnar wrote:

Why does my development server refuse to run *.flv files? Posting on the web, rant the same thing "why do my *.flv files run locally but not on my server?"

Check your server and make sure that a mime type mapping exists for *.flv. There's a very good chance that your web server doesn't have them set correctly by default. Second thing sounds stupid but I gotta say it. Make sure your paths to the flv are correct. Seems stupid but I know to look for that and it still catches me from time to time.

Thanks graphixboy!Unfortunately I work for a large "world class" institution and don't have "administrative privileges" to tweak any mime type mappings on any servers. When you consider the (conservative) environment, they probably turned off the *.flv mappings and it's even the development part of a dev/int/prod controlled sequence. I appreciate your "second thing" regarding paths to the flv, it didn't sound stupid at all. For that very reason, the flv is in the same folder as the swf (actionscript) calling it. Pathing to another domain (flv file storage is an issue), is my next headache once I get over this one!! Your suggestion is probably right on target with mime type mappings because the same code on another server runs the external flv. To explore this a bit further, it seems server mime type mapping can detect the existence of external flv files running within swf files!?

So in other words, server mime type mapping can detect a "*.flv wolf in *.swf sheep clothing" kinda thing!